If you’re planning the remodel of your building or the construction of a whole new one, you know the preparation begins many months or years in advance. In order to ensure the entire project can be completed by the deadline, all materials for various aspects of your project have a required ship date.
Because many projects involving locker replacement and installation take place in athletic centers and schools, summertime is very much the busy season for the locker business. Around 60 percent of athletic lockers and school lockers are delivered between April and August, in the limited window of time while school is out and it’s off season. It’s like that old saying: when the kids are away the facility must…work to completely overhaul the spaces that have been used and abused for years. (Or something like that!)
What is Lead Time?
“Lead time” is the amount of time from when an order is confirmed, to the date when the
delivery is guaranteed. Different companies consider the start of lead time a little differently. While some begin once they receive a purchase order, others wait until payment is confirmed. But really, a locker company needs to have all the necessary information before we can start obtaining parts and constructing the product. DeBourgh starts the lead time once we have sufficient information to work on making your lockers exactly how you want them.
Typical lead times vary according to manufacturer and product. During the busy season, lead time can depend entirely on how helpful the manufacturer wants to or can be, as they will likely have orders piling up, usually resulting in lead times of around 10 to 20 weeks.
DeBourgh Lockers, however, guarantees a unique lead time of five weeks. This is entirely dependent on your willingness to work with us in confirming all of your information as soon as you possibly can and are planning to make fairly standard selections in color and locker type. In order to be the most efficient, we maintain a continuous line of communication with you, following up as frequently as necessary to get the answers that we may need to begin production.
The Process
Once you place the purchase order for your lockers, we estimate two weeks until completion of the approval sketches, a mock-up of the plan as proposed. You’ll sign off on each area of this first blueprint to be sure it represents what you are looking for. Any information that has yet to be provided will also be listed for you to answer and confirm. Once you return these approval drawings, we create installation prints to show exactly what the job will be.
It can take three to four weeks to gather the materials and make sure all the parts are at the production plant. The actual construction is the quickest part of the process, and we usually build your lockers in one week or less.
It’s important that whoever is overseeing the project has a lead time in mind that is compatible and realistically in-line with the final completion date. From architect to contractor and user, understanding how lead times will impact the project is essential. However, if you need a quality product fast and are willing to respond and provide information as needed, DeBourgh can get you from PO to delivery in as little as five weeks.
To learn more about what your facility can do to make at least the locker part of your projects undertaking go more smoothly, look for our next article, Key Things Customers Can Do to Decrease Lead Time.